PPSC - Facts As I See Them

This is regarding the civil services exam conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) for the recruitment of higher bureaucracy for the states. The process of the exam started in November 2009 and ended in June 2012 (more than 2 years). It must be noted that exactly similar type of exam is conducted by UPSC for All India Services and Allied services which gets completed in one year. It must also be noted that the PPSC chose to conduct the exam after long 9 years. The last one was full of discrepancies and it had to be re-conducted because the chairman was alleged to have been involved in corruption.

For those who don’t know about the exam pattern. It has 3 stages – preliminary, main and interview. Preliminary exam is an objective type exam where the candidate has to select one option from among 4 or 5. Those who qualify Preliminary appear for Main, which is a subjective exam, the candidate has to write essay type answers reflecting his opinion about the topic asked in the question. In the interview, the candidate is assessed for his personality traits (as it is stated in the brochure) and if he is suitable, he is given marks accordingly. The marks of Main and Interview are then added together to prepare the merit list.

Immediately after the main exam results were declared, many of the aspirants were shocked to find that in order to be eligible for DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police), one has to pass through the following test:

And the candidates were given around a week to prepare for the same. The surprising part is that there was no mention (in detail) of such test in the brochure and the commission could not even upload on the website the same in the more than two years it took to conduct the exam. The motive was clearly to give advantage to a select few because some of the people (as told to me by my friends – no evidence here) knew about the test and had started preparing for the same much earlier. The outcome was as expected – only a handful of candidates were successful.

It must be noted that policing today is more of a mental exercise where officers need to have a mindset where they are sensitive, honest and efficient. But PPSC thought physical ability is more important than mental ability. In this context, it must be noted that an IPS officer selected via UPSC also joins the same/similar post – DSP or ASP but there is no such test there. Officers are given training after they join the training. Therefore, physical ability is secondary to mental make up. When right thinking people are craving for police reforms, I hope this issue also holds importance.

In the main exam, there were problems in some question papers (especially Commerce paper as told to me by Commerce students). Students could not solve some questions with the data given in the question itself. That meant that questions were set by substandard teachers and if not then surely they were not proof-read. This shows how seriously the whole process was taken by the commission.

When the results of the main exam came, some of the subjects – Botany, Zoology - had got 90% marks whereas others could not even touch 70%. These 20 marks made a lot of difference in the merit. No doubt the topper had such subjects. Again this reflects the pathetic and substandard evaluation done by the teachers who may not be well- verse with their subjects. This is quite a common part of our education system where teachers don’t know their subjects but have high degress – Phds or so.

Then a lot of discretion was put to use in the interview stage. Interview comprised 100 marks and it is here that many of the candidates were asked tough questions so that they could not say later that their interview went good but still got less marks. Again, no doubt some people got extremely less marks (around 40%) and some selected few went up till 70 – 80%. One can imagine the difference all this can make in the final merit and that too when the competition is cut-throat.

And one thing more to be added. All this is quite common in other State Public Service Commissions. The members of the commission are selected majorly by way of political contacts (no merit here even though they are supposed to uphold merit in selecting the bureaucracy).

You must have wondered as to why courts did not step in. Infact, there were litigations but it is not surprising to see that courts have often floundered in providing justice (though I still believe that Army and Judiciary are the only two institutions which have some respect left in them. Others have collapsed and degraded).

If these things continue, I am sure the so called ‘Demographic Dividend’ is bound to degenerate into ‘Demographic Nightmare’. 

Refer - http://ppsc.gov.in/

Pumping Iron - For Beginners

I have spent a considerable time in working out in the gym (close to 3 years) and even though I don’t possess a physique that is worth emulating, I have benefited a lot from the process in terms of improving my health. It is only after going through the process that I have learnt a thing or two which I thought must share through this blog.

The content may not help those who have passed the first stage – who join the gym for the first time – but I hope the beginners will immensely benefit from this.

Exercise and nutrition

Good exercise and nutrition are two sides of the same coin. People joining gym often neglect the second part and continue to eat food which are unhealthy. Depending on this diet, they neutralize whatever gains they may have made in the gym. It is known to everyone that a diet rich in protein (I am not going into fast digesting or slow digesting proteins) is helpful in gaining muscles. Some people resort to dieting (drastic reduction in one’s diet) which may further create problems. It is better that you first cut down on unhealthy food (ghee, butter, white bread (maida), sugar, potato etc) followed by a slight reduction in diet. It is always better to have small meals at regular intervals than a big meal once. Make sure you get the proteins you need in your diet. Look over the internet to check natural sources of protein (egg whites, chicken (not butter chicken please) etc). It is difficult to resist from things like chocolate cake, gulab jamun, ice cream etc but if you are able to control yourself initially, you would not have any problem later and eating healthy food eventually becomes a part of your habit.

Choosing the right trainer

In many of the gyms that I have been to, I have seen trainers who don’t know much about the exercises. In many of the cases, the trainer himself has never done any workout. Others have some experience and they try to impart the same to others. Bodybuilding (BB) is a science where every exercise has a logic behind it – which muscles to activate, when to do it etc. But if you try to ask these broscientists, they give you answers that are funny. Therefore, it is important to pick a knowledgeable trainer. If you think that he is not able to give you satisfying answers, go over the internet and learn a thing or two about the exercise that you do. Some websites that are worth seeing are:

http://www.youtube.com/user/vicsnatural

http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961?feature=watch

http://www.youtube.com/user/Instructionalfitness/videos?view=0

There are many others that can be referred to.

Learn your muscles

It is important that you learn your musles – biceps, triceps, deltoids, chest, abdominals, quadriceps etc so that when you do a certain exercise, it is important that you link that exercise to your muscles. Moreover, it always helps if you know what you are doing.

Protein supplements

There is a big market out there for protein supplements. Many people prefer Whey Protein which comes in various forms – isolate. Concentrate, blended etc. The good thing about these supplements is that they give you high protein which is fast digesting and with less fat (this is what people have told me. I have still not used any supplements). One thing is clear that you require proteins if you want to build muscles. So if you are able to get the required protein from your regular diet, it is well and good. But if we talk about a typical Indian diet, it is more of a balanced diet rather than a high protein and less fat diet. So a typical Indian plate would consist of a mixture of carbohydrates, fats, proteins etc. In that case, it becomes difficult to provide the proteins that we require for muscle building. People have estimated it to somewhere 0.8g per pound of your weight to 1g per pound. I don’t know about the methodology followed but if it is true, a regular diet can’t give you so much proteins. Moreover, a high protein diet is not a poor man’s diet. It is quite costly to spend on eggs, chicken, milk etc everyday. It is here protein supplements can help you in giving proteins. Arguments on whether whey protein supplements (WPS) are safe are equally strong on both sides. People who oppose WPS criticize these companies who have marketed their products well and talk about the side effects – some say kidney problems; others liver problem. That is the reason I have not been able to make up my mind. But I am sure, WPS if taken in right quantity and at right time may not pose any problem since whey is considered to be natural – byproduct of manufacture of cheese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whey). In any case, anything taken in excess is bad. Even your pizzas or burgers.

Focus on the muscles and keep it slow

Many people who join gym for the first time observe seniors and imitate their way of exercises going fast but in the process affecting more muscles than what is required of them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwJg6nOJ6fM). It is important to keep the motion slow and make sure your mind is focusing on the muscles that are affected – some sort of mind body connection. Keep the weights light at first and once you have mastered the motion and the focusing, gradually increase the weights. Breathing in and breathing out is as important during the process.

First toning/shaping and then mass

If you haven’t been to a gym before, it is important that you first keep the repetitions high and keep the weights heavy enough so that you are able to complete the required reps (12-15). This will allow the toning of the body and give shape to the muscles. It is after this heavy weights can be employed keeping the reps low (5-10) which will help to build mass.

Make a schedule

Again for first timers or even people re-joining gym after a long time, it is important that for the first week or so, you do a mix of all exercises (all muscles per day) so that you touch all the muscles in that period. It will also help you in toning your body. After that you can switch onto one muscle per day type of schedule.

Don’t forget the legs

People generally wish to build big biceps or chest muscles and forget the legs because it is easy to flaunt biceps and chest but legs generally stay covered. I must say that working on legs (quadriceps, hamstring, calves) is more important than everything else. Your whole body rests on legs and therefore stronger and healthy legs become important. Moreover having stronger muscles in legs help you to avoid problems in older age when people have problems in their knees – a common problem.

Even though this is not something that is something new that I have written, people generally overlook them. It is very important to mention here that doing wrong exercise may build you good muscles but the long term bad effects can cause a bigger harm that one can ever imagine.

Media Debates - A Perspective

Though Team Kejriwal (TK) is fighting an anti-corruption battle and therefore it is expected that they themselves are answerable for any wrongdoing, the team does not hold any public office and therefore any comparison with the existing political system would want that the accountability of the latter needs to be much higher.

A lot has been going on in the media regarding this fight against corruption, especially in the last two years when high profile cases have come to light and the courts have begun to take an active role in the governance. In media, the debates that are aired on primetime have adopted a new role where justice (in the realm of perception) is meted out in few hours. As an observer and a citizen, these debates have begun to turn farcical in my perspective. In some (or many) cases, these debates have become a tool of propaganda to fool people who are ‘thought’ to be of low intellect. Though psychology teaches us that many a times people make decisions –sometimes important- without much thinking (termed as peripheral processing), it is hoped that in case of debates people don’t make the same mistake. When courts in India take years (or even decades) to give judgments, most of the fight is fought on perception and therefore these primetime debates assume importance. In the following paragraphs, I have discussed few instances where I feel that media is behaving irresponsibly.

1. Recently, TK came out with documents showing how there is a strong prima facie case (later media investigations confirmed it) of holding an independent inquiry into some of the cases. The media responded by saying that how can someone hold press conferences and make ‘wild allegations’. Some even pronounced it as ‘Hit and Run politics’ or ‘OB van politics’ etc. But when Mr Khurshid held a press conference, the media responded by saying that he gave point by point rebuttal, though he could not give convincing answers to the specific questions.
2.  In debates the time allotted to various participants can be easily manipulated. If the total time allotted is given more to one side, the overall impression that a viewer gets is that one side is able to convince comparatively better that the other. More time obviously means that one side has been able to make more arguments.
3. Allowing rebuttals to one side more often is also a problem. If one side has been allowed to rebut every counter argument made by the other side, it gives an edge to that side and this can also give an impression of fairness to the side which has more rebuttals in its pocket.
4. In any debate, broadly speaking, there are 4 sets of people – the two parties holding opposite views, neutral experts and the anchor. The issue of ‘unofficial spokespersons’ is well known to people who regularly watch debates. There are a set of people, who are categorized variously as ‘Senior Journalists’, ‘Analysts’, ‘Senior Lawyers’ etc who are expected to give an unbiased view on the issue at hand because they don’t belong to any party. But the problem is that many of these neutral observers are not so neutral in their affiliations. Therefore, it is self-evident that they would be able to tilt the public opinion because viewers tend to believe more what the person has to say when he is perceived to be independent.
5. It has been observed that media indulges into intense scrutiny into what TK has to say. They are pinned for every argument made by them. (It is already iterated that they don’t yet hold public office.) They are asked to provide all the documents that will prove specifically all the charges made. If that is the precedent that media is setting, then what is the need for an investigating agency? There is something called as prima facie case which the media deliberately chooses to ignore. On the other hand, it is now well known that some of the questions and documents that were part of the press conferences of TK were already in public domain. But media chose to ignore it. No scrutiny here, leave alone intense scrutiny.
6. Low knowledge level of the anchors – Many a times, it is seen that anchors don’t do adequate homework before coming for the debate. Therefore, they end up asking general questions. This was explicitly seen during Lokpal agitation where it had become increasingly difficult for the proponents of Lokpal to convince these anchors that ‘independent CBI’ is the need of the hour. Now this does not mean ‘no accountablity’. Independence and accountability are separate parameters. The idea is to tire people out so that they get discouraged and demoralized. Similary in the debate on Mr Ashok Khemka, firstly some participants accepted that they have not read the court order on the posts held by Mr Khemka. Some participants chose to indulge into selective reading of the court orders. Now if there is no clarity in the order, then what is the need to have a debate on this specific issue and that too when the person himself is not present to explain it. (http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/left-right-centre/was-ias-officer-shunted-for-taking-on-robert-vadra/250998)
7. The issue of lawyer spokespersons also needs some consideration. They tend to focus on technicalities (sometimes flawed or one-sided). This confuses viewers who don’t have adequate knowledge about the subject at hand. The objective itself is to confuse people. Fluent English and usage of well crafted sentences does not mean that person is telling the truth. This is the reason why there is often no answer in straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. 
8. Topics of debates are so chosen as to put a particular side in bad light for no reason. Sometime back Anna Hazare talked of flogging those who drink after they don’t listen. This was created into a debate in one of the channels. But the same anchor forgot that Nehru had said that the corrupt should be hanged to the nearest lamppost. Besides this, topics such as ‘Has TK lost its credibility?’; ‘Has TK or Team Anna lost its steam?’ ; ‘Is TK or Team Anna a media creation?’; ‘Is politics of hit and run sustainable?’; ‘Is TK playing OB van politics?’; ‘Press conference of TK a damp squib?’ throw some light on how things can be downplayed in the eyes of public.
9. It is quite strange that media has never focused adequately on Subramanian Swamy. He has been fighting some cases in the Supreme Court which are of national importance – Ram Setu, EVMs etc - but he has not been given his share of coverage.
10. Sometime back Mr Kejriwal challenged in Devil’s Advocate to call one of the accused parties in the expose done by them. The challenge is still open. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJcQQxwjwQ)

The net result is that social media has come to reflect the real views of the people and act as a counter to the mainstream media.

From the above arguments, it is clear that some (or many) of these debates are conducted to fulfill certain objectives that speak contrary to the fact that Media is the Fourth Pillar of the Democracy. There is still a belief that there are some people in Media who know that they have a responsibility towards the society and therefore there is no attempt to paint everyone with the same brush. Now when the country is changing, it is high time that all the pillars of democracy stand up to fulfill the aspirations enshrined in the Constitution. 

(Argument should not be made that the article wants to convey that all debates that are aired come in the above category.There are debates and debates.)

Ad Wars and Indian Youth

Ad by Times of India

Reply by The Hindu

Whatever has been depicted is infact true. Many of the so called 'youth' do not know anything of what is happening in the country. A country which is passing through a transition phase cant come out successful if the people don't take active part in assuming responsibility of the current situation. Submerged in the materialistic culture, many of us have forgotten the rich values given to us by our forefathers. It is important to understand that materialism is ephemeral. If sustained, there is a greater danger of DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND turning into DEMOGRAPHIC NIGHTMARE.

Accountability of the Lokpal

A lot has been argued that Lokpal will become a super body with enormous powers. I feel it is not about 'power' but 'ACCOUNTABILITY'. In order to curb massive corruption, we need a body that has some powers to operate smoothly and efficiently. Therefore, if proper mechanisms are put in place, the so called powerful body can be made accountable. Therefore, the following mechanisms can be used (iterated by NCPRI and IAC):

• Accountability regarding the accounts and other performance and financial matters – answerable to the Parliament, through the Public Accounts Committee, on the basis of financial and performance audits conducted by the CAG.
• Any complaint against the Lokpal or its members should lie in the Supreme Court.
• Annual Report of the Lokpal must be laid in the Parliament.
• Any orders passed by any bench of the Lokpal or any officer of the Lokpal shall be subject to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court or Supreme Court.
• The Lokpal shall maintain complete transparency in its functioning and shall ensure that full records of any investigation or inquiry conducted under this Act after its conclusion is made public by being put on a public web site.

Reservations in Lokpal

In my opinion, it is an inadequate argument:

1. None of the other constitutional bodies have it.
2. The objective of the LokPal is not affirmative action but curbing corruption.
3. Only the meritorious people should occupy LokPal. So if an SC/ST/OBC/women is meritorious, he will automatically be eligible.
4. Performance of the LokPal will be judged by how effectively he curbs corruption. The victim can be a general/sc/st/obc/women category. It doesn't matter.
5. There is no bar for people from reserved category to occupy the LokPal membership.
6. It will create way for reservations in other posts as well and ultimately a big political tool and further division of our country.
7. Judiciary doesn't have reservations but still it is the strongest promoter of affirmative action.

Regards

Lokpal – Some areas of concern

Supremacy of Parliament
I feel this is a bogus argument put forward by our parliamentarians. When our constitution was being drafted, we chose to give supremacy to our constitution and not the Parliament as in the case of British system. De Lolme writes ‘British Parliament can do everything except, making a woman a man, or a man a woman’, which is not applicable in our case. The Indian Parliament is supreme only when it comes to framing of laws and therefore overrides any ordinance, rule, guidelines framed by the executive. The Constitution starts with “We The People…” which implies that the constitution derives its authority from the people. If at any point of time there is a difference of opinion between the Parliament and the People at large, the wishes of the people take the precedence. Hence, People are supreme.
Moreover, any legislation by the Parliament can be struck down by the courts.

Can Lokpal be the Panacea?
No one claims that Lokpal is the solution to all the ills of our society as far as corruption is concerned. Not even Team Anna. But if it can’t be a panacea, does it mean that we don’t need a lokpal? Absolutely not. In any act of corruption, there is a demand side and a supply side. Demand side is often characterized by Politicians and bureaucrats and supply side characterized by people/corporates. Ideally, both demand and supply side needs to be tackled simultaneously but if we choose one, then it has to be the demand side first. This is because if people at large choose not to pay bribes to get their work done, there would be delays in getting the work done or at times refusal if bribe is not paid. So act on demand side first and Lokpal is the best first step for it.

Including the entire Bureaucracy
It is preferable to include the entire bureaucracy because corruption many a times is a collusive act where many people at various levels are involved. We often hear about lower officials saying “upar saab ko bhi dena padta hai”. And once proper structures are established and some sort of deterrence is created with ‘speedy’ and ‘sure’ punishment, we may not require a heavy bureaucracy to prevent corruption.

Independence of CBI
It is one of the core issues that can’t be compromised. A CBI independent of the Government and not totally independent is the need of the hour. Independence does not mean no accountability.This has been upheld by the Hon’bl Supreme Court umpteen number of times. This will also do away with SC monitoring investigations as in the case of 2G scam.

Selection of important posts
It has been aptly said “Either you recruit right or train right”. Therefore any such selection of important posts be it that of Director CBI or Director of Prosecution, must involve the government, opposition, civil society, Judges, lokpal chairperson and in such a way that in no way the people against whom the CBI is expected to act i.e., politicians, bureaucracy and judiciary, should be more than half the number of members in the selection panel.

Investigative Agency
It must be CBI because it is a professional agency engaging in the same for the last so many years. The infrastructure, though inadequate as compared to FBI, is well laid out. Moreover, any new agency created will have to start from scratch requiring people to be trained. The infrastructure takes time to develop and it may end up like other agencies which are not able to perform as per their potential because of manpower shortages, lack of skilled personnel and deficient infrastructure such as Competition Commission of India, Central Information Commission etc.

Lokayuktas
The Lokpal Bill must provide for the lokayuktas as well. The overall framework must be the same as the central lokpal so that there is uniformity in all the states. This will also provide for harmony between the central and state laws. Also, otherwise it will become very difficult to request to every state or raise protests against for such an agency.

‘My way or the highway’
Team Anna has been often accused of this. It must be noted that on core issues – independence of CBI, lokayuktas etc, there can’t be any compromise. You can’t treat the disease partially. Therefore, the team is right on being rigid on core issues. On the appropriate mechanism, there can be dilution but that must not be seen weakening of the Lokpal.

‘Either you are with us or you support corruption’
This is a false propaganda put forward by some people, especially some journalist. Firstly, these people don’t have any alternative idea/structure of Lokpal. They come on the TV sets, criticize government’s draft for 30 seconds and then speak for 20 odd minutes against Team Anna. This forces many of the people to brand these people as supporting corruption. They have been writing for many years in reputed newspapers/magazines but have failed to arouse any kind of awareness against corruption. Moreover, many of the newspapers/magazines with which they are associated cater to middle classes.

Role of Media
Watching TV debates will tell you that the knowledge level of many of the journalists and that too of reputed media channels is so low that they end up asking panelists as to whether they require independence of CBI. There are some issues on which there can not be any Yes or No. This also supports the argument made by Justice Katju that many of the journalists have no idea of political, economic, social theory. The Media, being one of the pillars of democracy, will have to be responsible in facilitating such debates.

Finally, the problem today is that the systems in our country have failed, more so when it comes to the accountability mechanism envisaged by our founding fathers. When there have been three-sixty degree changes all around, especially post-globalization, the governance, characterized by status-quo, has failed to keep pace with the society as well as global trends. In the times to come, a strong Lokpal should be our first step towards rectifying this lacuna.

Regards

Civil Services Examinations: A Blueprint for Reforms

In this rapidly changing world, every sector of our economy is witnessing reforms or is perhaps calling for reforms in order to keep pace with the volatile environment. Administrative sub-system, being an ‘open system’, also has to renovate and rejuvenate itself constantly. Otherwise if left to itself, will drag itself towards entropy or simply degeneration. Amidst this, a number of reforms have been put forward by the government for the civil services but one area that has escaped drastic change is the civil services examination itself. Though, a change in the form of introduction of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and scrapping of Optional subject in the preliminary examination has been attempted this year, a comprehensive overhaul may justify the step taken. This article attempts to overview the examination process and suggests some changes.

From the last few years, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has been trying to move away from rote learning to an application based conceptual understanding. This can be judged from the type of questions asked in the recent years. This is a welcome step because the earlier pattern gave undue advantage to candidates who have been preparing for some time. Presently, a candidate has to answer questions worth 300 marks in 3 hours. This breaks down to 6 minutes for every 10 marks (100 words). This does not include time wasted for signing for admit card, extra sheets and the occasional water break. Now when the questions have become more conceptual and analytical that requires more application of mind, it becomes difficult to put forward your point of view in a structured manner in the required time limit without compromising on the quality of the answer. As a result, candidates attempt initial answers carefully but have to speed up at the end. Though time management is the key to this examination, the present time limit seems insufficient. The solution can be that the number of questions can be reduced and the candidate be asked to give a structurally and conceptually balanced answer and marks given strictly on the basis of the quality of answers.

Secondly, there is an urgent need to update the syllabus and make it detailed as well. Many of the present issues for the administration must be included. For example, in Public Administration, International Affairs, Environment, International agencies, Communitisation etc can be included. Moreover, topics like regulatory authorities, disaster management should be detailed as these are huge topics in themselves. A candidate can’t be expected to know everything about the topics. Though, few years back some changes were brought about in the syllabus, this has to be a regular process as issues change as the time flows.

Thirdly, UPSC has also been trying, successful to some extent, to discourage students from joining and relying on coaching institutes. These institutes have been quite successful in inculcating rote learning in the students and this has even helped candidates to enter civil services without having the inherent zeal towards public service. The present change in the pattern of examination though tries to prevent candidates to join these institutes, it unconsciously is forcing many to do the same. By creating more uncertainty as to what kind of questions will come, the candidates are ever more leaning towards coaching teachers. This can be tackled by publishing some model answers of past year question papers. In GMAT (test for MBA examinations), Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), that conducts GMAT, publishes standard answers for the retired past year questions. So a candidate can know how the test makers think. Similarly, UPSC can form a team of academicians and come out with model answers so that candidates can understand what the examiner looks for in the answers and therefore can prepare on his own. Ofcourse, these answers should only be tentative. In the same way, some standard sources must be listed for every subject so that in case of divergent views in different books, candidate can rely on only the official source.

Fourthly, the issue also props up whether the exam tests the candidates on the traits that are expected of an administrator. It would be pertinent to talk about Second Administrative Reforms Commission (SARC) that argued for scrapping of optional subjects and substitute them with common papers of General Studies that would comprise Economy, Constitution, Law, History, Geography etc. This is again a welcome initiative as some of the optional subjects do not test administrative traits at all. Infact, it has also been argued that many of the pressing issues such as land acquisition, civil society, Black money have not been asked. Therefore, the recommendations of SARC are worth following in this regard. Infact, papers like English and Indian language must also be tuned to what can be actually predict administrative qualities.

Fifthly, it is well noted that not all who take the examinations become civil servants. Those who miss even by few marks are not drastically different from those who get selected. Many of these candidates start coaching centers and this answers the flourishing of coaching centers. Government can take steps by inviting candidates who have taken Main examination to join other sectors. The marks of Main exam can be a criteria followed by an interview by the concerned department. This has already been done by Sports Authority of India (SAI). This can be extended for other comparable jobs.

It is no doubt, civil services examinations are the toughest examination in our country. Our administrators selected by way of these exams have done exceptional work in public sphere. This is the same civil service which was considered to be the ‘Steel Frame’ during the British Raj. When reforms have been the answer on all fronts, some changes in the examination process and pattern can better justify the response of administrative system towards the environment.

Catch ‘Em Young

Amidst all the outrage over corruption, one entity that has not caught much of the attention in the public debates is the bureaucracy, esp. the higher bureaucracy. Considered as the ‘Steel Frame’ during the British Raj, Bureaucracy was ‘predicted’ to be inadequate for the newly independent India until Sardar Patel vocally supported it. Since then, many Committees and Commissions have given recommendations that have tried to uproot the bureaucracy from its status quo-ist inclination. The two Commissions viz. First Administrative Reforms Commission (FARC) and Second Administrative Reforms Commission (SARC) are worth mentioning as they dealt with comprehensive analysis and restructuring of the administration.

In one of the reports of SARC – ‘Refurbishing of Personnel Administration – Scaling new heights’, there is a suggestion of a new type of recruitment procedure for the civil services. The Report talks about two proposals – Post School recruitment system and Post-school grooming for Public services. The essence of both the suggestions is that administrators be recruited at a young age by putting the age limit of 21 to 25 years with usual relaxations for reserved candidates. The main reasons given are:
1. At a young age, the mind is open and receptive to values of public service whereas at a late age the mindset is already entrenched and the person is set in his views.
2. Recruiting at a young age would allow the candidate to reach higher levels of Bureaucracy where he can give his vital inputs towards policy formulation (given his expertise and experience developed all throughout his career) and hence it would lead to better realization of his potential.
The Arguments given for the above proposals are commendable but there are few notes of dissent before such a step is considered.

Firstly, the report assumes that the special institutes i.e., National Institutes of Public Administration (NIPA) and other selected institutes, that are being proposed to be established would be successful in creating the ‘ethos’ and skills desired of a public servant which will guarantee a successful career in the civil services. Practical experience says that our education system has failed to deliver be it on the grounds of inadequate policies or ineffective implementation. If that is the case, what is the guarantee that the NIPAs would be qualitatively so much better than any other institutes, infact even than the IITs and IIMs (which are few of the institutions that are recognized globally). Many critics also argue that ‘ethos’ is not something that develops in 3-4 years i.e., the time when the person is in NIPA. Early childhood has a greater role to play in the grooming of an individual. So structuring a vibrant education system should be the priority of policy makers and implementers.

Secondly, it can also be ‘inferred’ that recruiting at a younger age also gives a chance to the system to mould the malleable candidates as per the needs of the system. But it must also be understood that the system, presently, is craving for reforms. Many former bureaucrats and academicians have talked about not only an entire overhaul of the archaic laws but also of the entire system- be it political, economic or administrative. There is a fear that a person under the garb of diseased parts of the system may become a ‘Yes Man’ who may hesitate to give his dissent on the issues which go against the larger interest of the society. Often analysts talk about the degrading ethical moral levels of the society (refer the recent judgment of Supreme Court on the Euthanasia case) and the competitive politics being played in the country which often looks for short term interests. In this case, there is a fear that bureaucracy, over a period of time, may be hijacked by the very status quo-ist system, maneuvering the bureaucracy as per its own interests.

Thirdly, when the maturity factor is taken into consideration, not many of the people attain maturity (quite a subjective term) at a young age, perhaps at around 21 years when the person is just out of his college. Maturity is generally defined with respect to the social interactions a person has. Administration is one such profession where the decisions you take have larger implications for the society and moreover the person starts taking these value laden decisions the moment he comes onto the field. In the present system, many of the candidates joining civil services have a working experience in different organizations which greatly helps them when they become a part of the esteemed civil services.

Fourthly, as far the present criteria is concerned, it is already having a three-layer check (Preliminary, Mains and Personal Interview) which can look for the desired ethos in the candidates and with the major changes already done in the syllabus and the pattern of the examination, in the form of civil services aptitude test and nature of questions asked, the examination is beginning to inch closer to the new challenges and values required of an administrator.

Fifthly, when the Union Public Service Commission has already moved towards an aptitude test (aptitude being defined as a combination of characteristics indicative of an individual’s capacity to acquire, with training, some specific knowledge or skill or a set of organized responses)the crux of which is that the candidate must have the administrative aptitude so that he can keep himself flexible all the times and mould himself as per the dynamic environment he finds himself in, the assumption of older students not easily accepting new values may not arise.

Sixthly, regarding the assumption that older candidates may not be able to reach higher levels, where their potential, experience and expertise can be better realized for policy making, may also have a solution. From other recommendations of SARC, it has been highlighted that merit system be promoted and a closer scrutiny on performance should be the norm. If this is so, a meritorious candidate regardless of his age would be able to reach any level. This will be a win-win situation both for the government and the candidate.

From the above arguments, it should not be deciphered that the recommendations of SARC are not justified. These reports are infact a gold mine of suggestions. But before going for any piecemeal changes, systemic reforms should be introduced so that if and when a person enters the system, these ethos and values become a source of inspiration not only for the administrators but for many who feel bureaucracy is one such institution which has stood the test of time.

The article can be read here as well:
http://www.wisdomblow.com/?p=2343

Personalities - Three Types

This may be the one of the many times that I will be iterating that every individual is different. One more factor that certainly embellishes this fact is the way we tackle problems in life. Right since birth we encounter various problems in life and we try to find a solution of those problems either with the help of people who are closely related to us or alone. In Erik Erikson’s (a neo-freudian psychologist) words, these problems are termed as ‘conflicts’. His idea of categorizing one’s development into stages also incorporates the significant role of conflict. Every stage, in his view, comprises conflicts which ideally need to be successfully accomplished. How well a person tackles them determines how his personality would be shaped up and also how well his other stages would be confronted. Anyways I don’t intend to discuss Erikson here. My idea of writing is to zero upon some of the ways I have seen people tackling their problems which says a lot about their personality.

I generally categorize people into 3 broad categories on the basis of how they confront a particular problem. We all know that socialization is something that has a great impact on one’s personality though heredity shouldn’t also be ignored. Now the first set of people when they come out of a particular problem sit with themselves and think about what all went wrong. Was there something lacking from their side that they could not handle the situation? What were the things that they lacked? What steps should they have taken to effectively handle it so that if it confronts them again they are all ready for it? Or was the situation something that they could never have handled or what steps should be taken so that it can be avoided if they come across the same problem in future? And finally they would end up doing a kind of SWOT analysis every time this happens to them. And these are the people who know themselves well because you can contemplate only when you know your strengths and weaknesses. This category, I would term, is the best of all because they don’t live their life in deception and also emerge as successful creatures in whatever they do.

The second category is one that doesn’t know anything about itself. They are total frauds as I would term them. They continue to deceive themselves all through their life and also end up deceiving others. They come across problems but since they have zero or near zero self awareness, it is highly likely that they don’t waste time on their failure (quite positive!) but they continue to face the same problems and hence commit the same mistakes. Since they are ‘lost in their own world’, they are the distanced very far from the word ‘Success’. They are poorly adapted to their environment and luck, if any, plays a very important role in their success.

The third category is one that can be really said to be ‘lost in its own world’. They do face problems and are very much aware of the things that go wrong but they consciously or unconsciously fail to act upon their failure. May be they are too lazy or too arrogant that they refuse to change. They may feel that they are right in their own way and there is no need to change and it was the problem’s nature that it can’t be solved and nobody could have solved it they way it came. They also live their life in deception (as seen from an objective perspective) but ‘their’ perception doesn’t term it as deception. This category may consider everyone else useless and itself to be of superior breed. And probably that is the reason that they don’t even try to change or act upon the problem so that it doesn’t bother them again. They are comparatively better adjusted than the second category because they find themselves comfortable only in the company of people who are similar to them in most of the ways.

Finally, if seen from a holistic picture the first category may appear to be an ideal one but it is hard to find oneself in one category all the time. I do agree that sometimes it happens that we jump onto other categories because human nature is hardly static but the major proportion of which category the person lies in ultimately decides what kind of person he is and a lot can be predicted about how he would be in the years to come. Anyways neither am I here to pinpoint anyone nor to tell that I lie in ‘x’ or ‘y’category. Its just that I wanted to give a concreteness to my observation.

Perception is reality

One thing that I learnt from my Psychology lessons is that every person is different. And when I say that every person is different it is self explanatory that everyone perceives differently as well. Whatever we comprehend about the world completely depends on how we have perceived the world. The world may not in fact be really like that.

I have come across many people who say that they have been used by other people. But then a question comes did the other person force you to behave like that? It was you who gave yourself in to the other person’s requests. It was completely your choice that you succumb to that person. But then another question comes – What made you to succumb to that person? The answer lies in the perception. People perceive the world and of course its inhabitants as they themselves are. And therefore people who see themselves as ‘Can never do bad to anyone’ will perceive the world a fair place. But since I have told that the real world is not what you have perceived, you may come across people who take advantage of your innocence and when they are sure that you are not beneficial to them anymore they are ready to part with you giving excuses which have no logical basis. It becomes very late to realize that you have been used to hell and hence you waste time on repenting what the other person did although the fault lays largely with you. It is human being’s tendency to blame others for the wrongs that we try not making improvements in ourselves and tend to commit the same mistake again and again. One repercussion of this is that some people start taking a negative view of the things around them but this is not a good strategy to go with. The best thing is to consider every person as a good person but never expecting anything from him. The moment you start expecting and forcing other people to do what you feel is the right way, that very moment you have chosen the path of utmost ‘selfishness’. This is what my psychology teacher has taught me.

You must believe that people who care for you will never ask questions to you and the ones who don’t care, I don’t think you need to explain anything to them. So just be yourself giving importance to only those people who are selflessly tied to you. But it is hard to find people of this kind in this world. Bad experiences in one’s life should only be taken as a cue to caution you of what lies ahead and not develop any kind of prejudice against anyone. The moment we are able to carry out these things, our life becomes more meaningful and the rewards, if not now, will definitely come later in life.

The Philosophy of Life - 1

I am starting a series called “The philosophy of life” wherein I would pen down some of the aspects/events of life that are inevitable and aim at imparting a lesson to those who are ready to learn from the bitter/sweet realities in their journey from womb to the tomb. One of the aspect that has recently propelled me to share is centered on the importance we give to various people we meet in this journey.

Right from birth an infant comes across different people. Some have a profound effect on his personality and some just come and go without making a considerable impact on him. As a result of this direct or indirect interaction with people, he inculcates few of the things and that becomes a part of his personality and stay with him all through his life. Now when I say that the interaction has an impact on the personality of the person it is quite evident that he must have given high importance to that person and as a result he has borrowed something from him in the process. But when I look at this process from the perspective of the other person, the story of life seems to be a bit ironical. There also exist people who give a lot of importance to us (infant) but most of us don’t realize it and tend to ignore what the person has done to us. And these are the people who are least valued. We simply act/feel indifferent to most of his behavior. And this is not something that is very specific to Ram or Shyam. It happens to most of us. And when I say most of us, it means I am talking of the majority. One of the best examples I can give is that of parents. Parents, especially in India, do everything for us but how many times do we stop and think seriously about them or about what they have done to us. Some people would reject my argument saying that it is their duty to do that. I’ll half-heartedly agree with them but we can always thank them in a way that would make them special and make them realize that they hold a special place in our life.

This is just one example. It may be applicable to many others, be it friends, strangers, who has had tried to give a new meaning to our life. Simple ignoring them would simply be being selfish on our part. We must try to understand that in a world comprising selfish and self-centered creatures if someone is taking pains we must thank them. And thanking them doesn’t merely mean saying thank you and some of these things can’t be taught. People just run for bigger things without even knowing that those bigger things are the ones that are the most difficult to possess. And in the process we ignore the importance attached to the smaller things which are easy to get. It is well said that we attach less value to the war which is easily won. And unfortunately that is what the human nature is all about.

Old Habits Die Hard

After a long wait I finally decided to write something again. There have been lot of issues that are urging me to pen my thoughts down but I am choosing to write on something that introduces a more philosophical touch to my thoughts. Thanks to my good observation ability that I have begun to realize that habits die hard.

Now first of all how do we define Habits? Habits are actions that progress from our consciousness to unconsciousness and that is probably the reason why they die hard. Because we are hardly aware of those actions that we begin to feel comfortable. We know that the laws of physics state that every entity in this universe tries to attain a state of maximum equilibrium and minimum energy, so this partly explains most of the things. Whenever an individual tries or even thinks of trying for a change, upheaval is caused inside the individual. Obviously who would think himself of trying to unsettle himself even when the change is for something good? What people don’t realize is that after disequilibrium, a state of calmness prevails. We just try to see the things superficially and not think of what lies beyond and often go wrong in interpreting most of the life situations – All that glitters is of course not gold. Bringing about a change is something getting out from the comfortable shoes that we have been wearing for many years and switching to the new ones which of course pinch at first. We try to distinguish between comfort and boredom without realizing they are the two sides of the same coin. It is said that bringing about change in oneself is easier than to bring it in the other but I beg to differ because it is equally difficult to change ourselves. To bring about a change in oneself you need to first repudiate your mind set because you just can’t simply say that what I have been doing or thinking for so many years is faulty and believing that we are infallible creatures. To question ourselves would mean to question our identity and that becomes impossible when we have already formed our identity.

A very valid question crops up that ‘Is the change really required?’ I really don’t have the potency to answer it because this is something person specific. Not many individuals would accept that they are not living their life as per their expectations. We need to first identify our expectations and that is something which goes all through our life i.e, to know ourselves fully. We find all kinds of people – those who think a time to change is due even when everything is going fine and as expected because life hardly follows the same and those who think that nothing is going as expected. Miserable are those who lie in between. But we must understand that change is the law of nature. It is an inevitable part of our life. The moment we try to question our ability to change or resist change, we hold ourselves responsible for our sluggish future. In the process we forget that “After a storm comes calm”.

MBA - The Dark Side

Now since the MBA season is over, it is time to look back what happened in all these stressful months that have brought joy to some and disappointment to others. The MBA season as i define starts mid November when people sit for CAT and ends in mid-January immediately after FMS. This is keeping in mind that majority of people sit for these exams. Obviously, there are some other exams as well that lie outside the scope of my definition of "MBA season". And i won't be talking about the Do's and Don't's but i would like to bring to light few of the issues that everyone of us (being aspirants) are aware but as we say "Time is the best healer", we forget about them and move forward in life. I must say there are two reasons why i am writing this. First, because i too have failed in achieving what i had expected (let's be frank) and secondly, i have lost all the interest in getting myself an MBA degree. After the infamous fiasco pertaing to the unexpected/surprising scores of the candidates, one thing that surfaced was that i was sure that the colleges are less concerned about making a man out of a boy or woman out of a girl. I won't deny the fact that money is needed to run any institution or business but transparency and the inclination to be true to the intellectual society is something that was not very much present. When we talk of MBA, the word "Professionalism" needs to be attached to each and every activity that is associated thereof. The first time i sat for the MBA exams, i used to think why the institutes introduce the B-school forms before the result and infact even the last date to purchase. I was unaware of the power of the word "Business" at that time. I wanted an MBA degree but without knowing the deep meaning of the business itself. Students, every year, shell out thousands of rupees to purchase the forms and then when they get to know that an undesired event has taken place they see their money going down the drains and become helpless and disheartened. Why not the results come out and people get to know where they stand so that they shell out the hard-earned money of their parents (for those who are still not into job) according their potency and satiate themselves. But then a questions arises: How will the institutes satiate themselves? And this is not all. Another concept has emerged these days. And we call it - "The profile call". No one has ever tried to define it in absolute terms because of the simple reason no one understands it. Now tell me, if i am rejected on the basis of some parameter, then how would i come to know that whether i am fit to apply even when i sit for that particular exam next year. This happened to one of my friends last year. He was rejected by some XYZ college and when he inquired the reason he got the reply that he did not score enough in his class XII exams. Now this person can never apply to the college because he cannot defy time to go back and change his class XII marks. Whatever may be the case, i have come to believe that all this is beyond my comprehension and I trust the Almighty for this.

I feel this is not something that the student community should come forward so as to bring transparency in the system because i don't want to burden it with one more responsibility. The competition has increased by leaps and bounds and amidst this if i ask the youth to come and fight for the betterment of the system, i would be asking too much. If youth has to do everything, then where is the moral responsibility of people who claim themselves to be the Guardians of the society. I may sound too patriotic, philosophical and unrealistic but when one sees people who being utmost capable don't make it as per their dreams just because of these issues, one feels dejected.

CAT- It's new; It's different

So the time has finally come. It took 33 years to break that old convention. Yes, you are right - the CAT has become online. The IIMs have eventually selected Prometric ETS as their partner in delivering their computer assisted CAT. The things may look to be quite streamlined for the IIM people but i fear there are few things that would pose problems for the aspiring candidates. I won't be talking about the flaws in the execution of the process because i don't know anything about it. For that, we will have to wait for the prospectus and the guidelines issued by the IIMs.
The first thing that would catch an aspiring candidate's eye would be the institutes, i mean the coaching institutes. Since every coaching institute used to conduct mock tests before the actual CAT, this time the scenario would be a little different. Every institute would follow its own process and would try to move anywhere around GMAT because that is the only online exam and which caters to the admissions into MBA institutes around the world. May be a possibility is there that IIMs specify the structure of the exam and for that we will have to wait. And if not, institutes would do their best to experiment with the online CAT. So experimentation will be at its best on the assumption that IIMs won't disclose much. The new CAT may give a lot of surprises because GMAT aspirants have GMAT prep tests easily available on the internet that can be downloaded for free which give the exact feeling of how the test would be like. I mean the interface. And if CAT doesn't supply that, the surprise factor may be a little cumbersome for the first timers. So availability of online mock CATs by the authority will make a lot of difference.

Second aspect is attempting the test from monitor screen. I have seen people, the ones who have appeared for GMAT, who face problems attempting the questions from the monitor screen. Because our education system is such that for the past twenty or so years we have been reading from books and notebooks that it is most likely that people may face problems during the test keeping in view that last CAT attracted around 3.5 to 4 lac people. Underlining important lines from the RCs, solving the question at the question paper itself, eliminating options by putting a cross infront of the options are some of the factors that people have become well acclimatized and therefore can be problematic. So again practising questions and that too from the screen is something that the aspirants will have to keep in mind in the coming months. And consequently it is highly likely that a candidate may not be able to justify his potential during the test. And moreover, it is still undecided that whether the candidate has to attempt all the questions or he may revert to the ones he has left.

The next aspect is the type of questions. Seeing the GMAT pattern and the no of people who have appeared in the last CAT, it is quite predictable that the questions would be tricky wherein the logical type of questions would dominate. Again the basics would have to be in place in such a scenario otherwise the chances of failure would rise. Another thing that becomes important with the concept of online CAT would be the domination of profile based admissions into the colleges. If GMAT pattern is adopted, preparation of essays would become an inherent part of the admission process. Seeing this year's scenario when colleges like symbiosis etc have started to bend towards candidate's profile, it is predictable to some extent that people would be called for interviews only on the basis of the profiles and very rarely the marks scored in the exam. Obviously, when lacs and lacs of people appear, these things do stand out and colleges have taken a serious note of this. One consequence of this would be that the no. of applicants for exams like SNAP, JMET, FMS, IIFT, NMAT, XAT etc would rise.

Another factor is the application fee. I reckon that people will have to shell a bit more than what they had done last time for the simple reason that the infrastructure required to conduct the exam for so many people in the mentioned ten day window period would demand the costs to go a little higher.

Amidst all these obstacles pertaining to CAT, i can see some added advantages. If CAT adopts the GMAT pattern, then people will not have to prepare separately for GMAT and as a result the number of GMAT applicants from India is bound to rise. Moreover, the B-schools taking CAT scores may also rise. So just watch out and strategize to tame the CAT in a different way. All the Best!!

India, China and Outsourcing

First of all, let us first define what we mean by outsourcing. Outsourcing is getting your work done by someone else who can do it in a cheaper and better way. Now when it comes to outsourcing, the first geographical location that hits our minds is India. India, which has traditionally attracted most of the services outsourcing projects, is currently churning out engineers at the rate of approximately 4 lacs per year which comprises the majority of its skilled workforce. If we are talking about Asia another destination that has caught the attention of everyone is China. China is considered to be the hub of manufacturing. China’s economy is the second largest in the world after United States when measured on the Purchase Power Parity. With the growing influence of China on the world stage, it is considered to be the next IT destination but there are some of the factors that stand against the country and give India an edge.

The key factors that are worth mentioning when we talk of offshoring are:
1. Abundance of technically skillful labor force.
2. Low cost workforce.
3. Quality of service.
4. Regulatory environment.
5. Robustness of infrastructure.
6. Knowledge of English language.
7. Time zone attractiveness.

Now India has tremendous advantage in terms of these factors. Not only that, since India has been doing well on the offshoring front, it has got the knowledge of how the projects are handled and it can use this knowledge as well as experience in taking an active part in the designing stages of the new projects. Another important aspect is the emergence of KPOs where India with its intellectual capital can show its capability in areas like research, designing etc. This is something that China does not own. China is relatively new to this kind of situation. Moreover, China lacks on account of English skills, Mandarin being the local language, and western business practices. But there are some factors that favor the rise of China and they are:
1. Liberalization of Government Regulations.
2. Growing middle class.
3. Large-scale investments in technical education.
4. Vibrant economy.
5. Availability of cheap labor force.

Chinese, over the years, have shown themselves to be hard working, competitive, and dedicated, as a result of which they are able to overcome any odds by dint of labor. China’s Government on the other hand has chalked out a massive program on primary education with focus on training in English. So if we see the overall picture we can be very sure that China can definitely prove to be a threat to India in the near future and India must raise the bar in terms of providing quality services to maintain the current trend in offshoring.

The Class - Erich Segal: A Review

Have you ever read a book that has the undefined power to take you through a journey even when you know that you are not a part of the theme but still feel the happiness, agony, frustration that the characters go through? That is what makes this work special, yet awesome and that is what you call the class in real sense.

Written about The Harvard class of 1958 (though fictional), Erich’s story circumscribes around the lives of five main characters who enter Harvard as children and exit as men who defy all the obstacles to become the heroes of the class of 1958. One peculiar virtue of Erich’s writings has been his mesmerizing way of defining his characters be it Love Story or be it Doctors (I haven’t read others) and how these characters, being special in their own, capture the theme of the story as a unit. The story talks about Danny Rossi, who breaks away from his father, to transform himself from a musical prodigy to an icon that the whole world bows when he takes the stage. There is Ted Lambros, who spends his Harvard years as a commuter, ascents to the top and finally achieves what he always craved for: tenure at Harvard. Then there is Jason Gilbert who is born as a hero, lives his life as a hero and also dies as a true hero. George Keller, the Hungarian, enters Harvard barely knowing the intricacies of English language but masters everything to reach a place where everyone aspires to be but only a few dare. And lastly, Andrew Eliot, who could not satiate himself with his entity and purpose of life, eventually finds solace at the end.

A good story cannot be but a striking balance between the ups and down of the life. And this is where Erich Segal has proved himself time and again. This reveals itself from the fact when Andrew writes in his diary “I guess he just didn’t know how to be happy. That's the one thing they can't teach you at Harvard”. Although all these men find whatever they ever desire, one thing they ultimately realize that there is one more thing that is above success, above all and that is happiness and it is priceless. The people get so much blinded by success that they forget that there even exists a word in the dictionary called success and that is what the author has tried to convey to his readers, and to this world. Another interesting feature that I could make out is Erich Segal’s ability to involve real events like war, elections etc and playing fictionally with the real characters that have stood out in the history, which makes this novel all the more real and less fictional and that is what enthralls the readers.

In my opinion I would juxtapose this book with all the other must reads because it truly justifies what we say in literal sense “vicarious thrill” of reading any book.

The Power of Inference

Few days ago I got a chance to watch television (as I hardly watch it) and as a matter of fact it had to be some good news channel or the sports because of my inability to tolerate all those saas bahu serials. As I was playing with the remote, I happened to stop at one of the news channels exploring the elections. Now when I say elections it has to be something pertaining to our popular political parties. It was fun watching the way the channel was portraying the drama with all the sound and light effects that will put to shame even our film-makers. The target-obviously the category of people which doesn’t have the potency to ‘infer’. There were so many things one could infer out of all that drama which might impel someone to not to vote. But we hardly do that. And I reckon that is what the problem is with most of us Indians and that’s why we don’t see one political party coming out successful election after election. The reason: because they don’t read between the lines and because they take what is in front of them as true. They might know that all that glitters is not gold but they don’t comprehend what it means. I would say, another inference problem.

The next issue is ‘who is to blame for this?’. Frankly speaking it is the people themselves who are to blame but the major proportion of it goes to our education system. From the moment a child becomes a student, he is enrolled into an endless loop of theoretical education. He assumes every written word in the text book to be a fact and starts memorizing it. Now this will always create problems because a person can remember a certain fact only to some extent, the longevity of which depends on the number of times he comes across the same fact again. That is why most of us still remember 1 plus 1 is 2 and tend to forget history dates. But then you’ll ask me is there any logic behind why 1 plus 1 is 2. I will definitely say no. The important point here is that we need to be selective and shrewd as to what needs to be assimilated and what needs to be inferred. And if this inference thing is not practiced at a younger age, then it creates problems later on and that can have a good (I mean bad) impact on your decision making. The decisions that you take when you are someone’s son or someone’s daughter doesn’t matter much but certainly do when you become someone’s father or husband or employee or employer. Because then you are answerable for all the good and bad. Schools should be aimed at exploring one’s mind. I don’t think many schools out here in India are taking any pains to develop a child’s brain. And for the same reason, a few private organizations are coming up that cater to this specific need. But then if you are to send your child to some other organization specifically for this, what the hell schools are doing. The only solution to this problem is when an individual takes the initiative to conjure.

The consequence of this not-inferring-things is that some other people are reaping benefits for your impotence. If you are able to infer you will be able to eliminate most of the options and be amongst the really-required ones. And I guarantee the life also eases out a bit as you can decipher most of the crypted situations in your daily life. There are many people who know ravi goes to temple but only a handful of us ask themselves as to why ravi is going to the temple and what will he do over there and that explains why most of us are ravis and only a few of us - einsteins.